Lapidot One-Shots
by thisismysecretidentity
Summary: Mostly in alternate universes. I hope you enjoy!
1. Invisible

Lapis had perfected the art of invisibility.

That's not to say, of course, that she could literally fade out of sight and be completely unseen by the human eye. But over the years, she had learned the best ways to avoid attention and to make people's eyes slide right over her as if she was a table or a chair: nothing to see here, just move on. She made rules for herself and followed them, and her invisibility act was just about perfect. It was easy enough once she got used to a quiet way of life, and it was a lot better than having people stare and her and wonder and whisper. So she walked through the halls in silence, listened in class and answered quietly if the teacher called on her. She never talked to other students unless it was necessary. In a crowd, she was the person who was never noticed. She got okay grades and hoped to get through her remaining school years without any unpleasant incidents of any sort. So all through middle school and the first half-year of high school, Lapis just acted invisible.

That is, until Peridot came along.

When the blonde-haired, light-skinned, heavily freckled girl plopped herself down in the seat next to Lapis during 9th grade English class – the first class of the day – Lapis almost slammed her head on the desk in frustration. Instead, she glowered at the girl, then turned her head away, fuming. There were three other open spots, so why did the new girl choose the spot next to _her?_ The desk was in the middle of the room (teachers were prone to calling on people in the back or front, Lapis had deduced), and judging by the new girl's neat folder and pointy pencil, she was the type to sit in the front. Even after she was rewarded with a glare, however, the girl didn't go sit somewhere else. Instead, she introduced herself.

"Hello. I'm Peridot. What's your name?" Her voice was high-pitched, every word carefully pronounced, but her tone was rather flat. She sounded a bit like a robot. Lapis scrutinized Peridot carefully before she answered, and when she did, she tried to convey the unspoken message, "go away, I'm not interested in talking".

"Lapis."

Either Peridot was really dense, or she was ignoring Lapis's hostility. Regardless of the reason, she went on speaking. "That's a nice name." She paused for a moment, as if waiting for a response, but received nothing. She went on. "What are you guys learning now? I need to know if I have to catch up or if I'm ahead." Lapis didn't deign to reply. Maybe if she ignored Peridot, the girl would go away and leave Lapis alone. No such luck, though. After a moment of waiting, Peridot sighed and commented irritably, "When someone asks a question you're supposed to answer, you know."

Lapis decided she might as well be perfectly clear. "You are aware that I'm not looking for a partner." So what if she's not being polite?

Instead of being offended, Peridot just rolled her eyes. "I am aware, but I don't care." For a moment she smirked at her own rhyme, then opened her mouth to speak again – but to Lapis's relief, at that moment, the teacher began to talk.

"Welcome back, everyone, to the second semester of ninth grade," announced Ms. Spinel in her slow voice. She wasn't a bad teacher, but Lapis had gotten past the point of caring about school. "We have a new student today – Peridot, please stand up." The freckled teen stood up awkwardly, a slight frown on her face. "She's moved all the way to our town from another continent, so please be patient with her. Thank you, Lapis, for helping to welcome a new student to our community." Peridot looked uncomfortable, and Lapis carefully avoided looking at anyone. Everyone's eyes were taking in Peridot's giant round glasses and vampire-white skin and strange hairstyle. Ms. Spinel, unfortunately, was oblivious. "Do you have anything to say, Peridot?"

"No ma'am," Peridot replied hurriedly, her eyes darting around the room and her cheeks flushing slowly. There were some snickers and an overall commenting of, 'did she say ma'am?', 'she said ma'am', 'pfft, that's hilarious'.

"Call me Ms. Spinel," the teacher said, not unkindly. "Very well, you can sit down." Peridot nodded and slipped to a seated position, hiding her face in her hands. "Now class, this semester is going to be filled with work, so I expect you all to be trying your hardest. We'll be starting out with a writing unit. Whoever you're sitting with now will be your partner for the next few weeks." Lapis resisted the urge to groan loudly. Now she had to work with this girl for the _whole_ _unit_? Just her luck. "We're going to be writing memoirs. To begin with, in order to gauge your current knowledge, I'm going to give you half an hour to try writing your own memoir. You know the drill: notebooks and pencils out, kids!" There was a general shuffling of papers and a bit more talk, and then silence as everyone began scribbling on their pages.

Lapis, unsure what to write, found her gaze drifting over to the other end of the little table. Peridot was bent over her paper, scribbling furiously; her hand was positioned so as to obscure the writing from everyone else. After the initial strange impression, Lapis concluded, there was evidently a whole lot more to find out about Peridot. _Funny how a few good features can change a whole face,_ Lapis found herself observing. _Peridot isn't actually bad-looking at all. She has a nice nose – much smaller and prettier than mine, the lucky girl – and when she isn't frowning, her expression is sort of cute..._ Suddenly she shook herself out of her thoughts. Cute? What was _that_ supposed to mean? Lapis shoved all thoughts out of her head. _Memoirs,_ she reminded herself firmly. _Memoirs are what I should be thinking about. Not girls._

Peridot lifted her hand and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. As she glanced up from her paper, she caught Lapis staring at her. A faint smile briefly haunted Peridot's face, but by the time Lapis dared to look at her partner again, it was gone.

Ten minutes later, a scrap of paper brushed Lapis's hand. She looked up from her notebook, in which were now three sentences of a sort-of-memoir-thing, and took the note from Peridot.

 _We did this last month at my old school,_ was written on the scrap. Peridot's handwriting was unnaturally neat. Lapis hesitated, then decided to take a chance.

 _thats a pity,_ she wrote back. _At least youll get good grade tho?_ Next to Peridot's immaculate handwriting, her own looked scrawling and messy. She pushed the paper back over to Peridot, then turned to her notebook again, not daring to look up at the other girl. When the note was passed back to her, Peridot had used a red pen to correct Lapis's grammar mistakes. Lapis almost snorted. In addition to that was another message.

 _I guess. I don't particularly like English class myself. Tech is better._

 _me, i dont care about school,_ replied Lapis, purposely not capitalizing and leaving out apostrophes, just to vex Peridot. Then, curious, she added, _why did u sit next to me_

 _Because I wanted to. Why else?  
i dont know. u mightve done it just 2 annoy me  
You have a point, but it wasn't __just_ _to annoy you.  
whatev  
What's your next class after English?  
ive got math. what r u writing ur memoir about  
Oh, I have math too. Might see you there. And as for what my memoir's about – that's none of your business._

Lapis looked up at Peridot to find that the girl was looking at her too. She masked her smile by sticking out her tongue, knowing it was childish but not caring. Then Lapis pushed the paper off the table and let it fall to the floor. At the very least, she reflected as Peridot wrinkled her nose at her, this was going to be an interesting semester.


	2. Date (1)

_This was a mistake. A really, really big mistake. I should never have let Jasper talk me into this._ Peridot, a nineteen-year-old with wild blonde hair and intelligent green eyes, leaned back in her chair with her eyes closed and tried not to think about what might happen. _A blind date? I'm such an idiot to have even considered it, not to mention actually come here. Maybe I should just leave now._ She opened her eyes just a sliver and peeked at the door to the small donut shop, wondering who was going to come through the doors. The idea of leaving was out of the question if she wanted to preserve the little reputation she had at school; Jasper would make sure of that. And besides, it was just one evening, right? Nothing could go wrong.

 _At least let it be someone decent looking_ , Peridot pleaded – to whom, she knew not. _Although, assuming that Jasper is the one who set it up, it'll probably be someone strange and completely unexpected. I wonder if the other person knows who I am? Or is this a blind date for her too? Oh crud, what if Jasper set me up with a boy as a joke? She knows I'm not someone who likes boys, though; she wouldn't do that. Would she? I can't be sure. Jaz sometimes takes jokes too far._ Lost in her thoughts, Peridot didn't even notice the person approaching her table.

"Hey there cutie," someone said from right in front of Peridot. The words cut through the tangle of her thoughts like a knife and jolted her into the real world, where she was met with the sight of a azure-haired girl with tan skin and laughing blue eyes. Peridot almost fell off her seat in surprise – how could she have zoned out like that?! – but quickly gathered herself and collected her manners and dignity.

"Hello," she replied primly. After a moment her thoughts caught up to her and she realized, _that girl called me a 'cutie'!_ NOBODY was _ever_ allowed to call Peridot cute. That was one of the main rules of her existence. This girl had better get that straight _right away_ and she wasn't going to unless Peridot said something. But somehow, when those sparkling blue eyes met hers, she couldn't say another word.

The blue-haired girl held her hand out. "I'm Lapis." She grinned, obviously amused by the expression on Peridot's face.

Peridot made an effort to neutralize her facial expression, then summoned up her manners and shook Lapis's hand. "Peridot." She struggled with herself for a moment, eventually deciding to let the 'cutie' thing slide for once.

"Peridot, huh? We both have gemstone names. Cool." Lapis took a seat across from Peridot and pulled her chair in close to the table, resting her arms on the table and holding her head in her hands. "So how'd I end up with a cute girl like you? Did Jasper get you to come here? Also, do you know why the waiters aren't bringing us menus? They usually are really prompt at that sort of thing here."

 _Cute. Cute, again. C'mon Peridot, say something about it!_ But she didn't. Instead, she shrugged and said, "Jasper apparently ordered the food for us. So we'll just hafta wait 'n' see, and hope she didn't order something totally weird – personally, I think she probably did." Lapis smirked and nodded in agreement. "And yes, Jasper did get me to come here," replied Peridot. She considered what she was supposed to do with her hands – with her eyes – what should she look at? She shouldn't stare, she shouldn't _not_ look at her, what to do? Lapis obviously had no such qualms; she was looking right at Peridot most of the time. Peridot's eyes flickered around.

"Okay... hey, can I call you Peri?"

 _What?_ This girl was _totally_ overstepping her boundaries. 'Cute', twice, was bad enough, but a _nickname?_ Nobody had ever before complimented her using the word 'cute' without being grumbled at, but for some reason she couldn't get mad at the girl across from her. All the same, there were some things she wouldn't agree to. "No."

"Why not? 'S a cool nickname... Fits you, I think." Lapis was completely unabashed, but Peridot could feel her own cheeks grow warm despite herself.

"B...because I said so," Peridot replied at last, resting her hands in her lap. She decided to change the subject, composing herself. "What school do you go to?"

"Crystal High. And you go to... Diamond High?"

"Actually, I'm attending the open university," replied Peridot coolly. She was proud of her intelligence but had resolved to speak of it matter-of-factly because she figured that gushing about it would be rather prideful.

"Way cool," Lapis breathed, her eyes wide. Despite herself, Peridot lost the calm look and blushed again. Lapis went on with the conversation. "Have you lived in Beach City for long? I've lived here all my life, pretty much. For a real long time I was one of those quiet kids, y'know, but lately I've been talking to lots more people. So that's probably why I never met you before. I mean, we both obviously know Jasper, so yeah."

"I've lived here for only a year," Peridot said, looking at Lapis, then away again.

Lapis nodded. "So uh... do you have any siblings? Oh," as a waiter approached their table carrying a bowl of soup, "looks like the first course is here... Excuse me, sir? Did you bring only one bowl of soup on purpose?"

"Yes, that's what was ordered," the man replied as he placed the bowl in the center of the table. Peridot looked at it and gulped.

"Can we have another bowl, then?" Lapis was, thankfully, not going along with Jasper's obvious plan. Peridot couldn't help but sigh in relief; seriously, eating from the same bowl? That wasn't going to happen. Not right away. Plus, geez, that was _so_ unhygienic. The waiter just nodded and left. Lapis turned to Peridot. "Looks like Jasper's plans _are_ weird. But I'm kinda glad I came here, regardless of the weird soup... is this _potato_ soup? Anyway, I'm glad to get to know you, even if it's just as a friend. You know?"

"Yes, I know what you mean," Peridot replied honestly. _Although I wouldn't mind too much if we could try being girlfriends, I guess. I'd like to try it out someday and this... this might be my only chance, honestly_. Just then the waiter came back, so they could serve the soup out among both the bowls instead of eating from the same one. "So... uh. How did you meet Jasper?"

"Oh," Lapis ate a spoonful of soup and then set her spoon aside. "Okay, you've got to hear this, it's a hilarious story..."

Throughout most of their meal, Peridot asked questions and let Lapis talk and tell stories. Some of them, she had to admit, _were_ pretty funny. So too were Lapis's reactions and facial expressions when she tasted the food. Practically every time a dish was brought to the table, it turned out that Jasper had ordered only one for both of them. Peridot would have gotten annoyed if it wasn't for Lapis.

First after the soup came a salad. After requesting another plate so they could share without eating from the same dish, Lapis whispered to Peridot, "figures that for once, we would be expected to eat healthily! If just to make a good impression, you know." After that, each of them got a glass of what looked like wine, but when Lapis tasted it, she snickered and told Peridot that it was "grape juice. You know, because we're underage, but apparently Jasper wanted it to _look_ like wine, like a fancy date." Peridot smiled slightly, amused by the expression on Lapis's face. Really, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Lapis _was_ really pretty. And part of her wanted to thank Jasper, although she was still annoyed that she was _forced_ to do this.

When the main meal arrived – spaghetti – Lapis actually facepalmed and sank back in her seat, groaning. "Oh gosh, not a Lady and the Tramp reference," she groaned. "Jasper is so annoying sometimes." Peridot just smirked and split the dish onto two plates, passing half over to Lapis. And finally, dessert arrived.

"Dessert!" Lapis beamed at the sight of the slices of chocolate cake (for once, there were two instead of just one). "And... fortune cookies? Weird, but okay." After eating her cake, Peridot was definitely full, and decided to keep the fortune cookie for later. When she said as much, though, Lapis looked at her beseechingly. "Please open it?"

"Fine," Peridot sighed as she broke her fortune cookie open. Then she read aloud the message. "'Stop searching forever, happiness is right next to you.'" She felt her cheeks grow warm, but just smiled. Lapis laughed.

"Why do I get the feeling Jasper tampered with these? Okay, here's mine. 'Don't give up. The beginning is always the hardest...' Jasper definitely rigged this. Maybe. I think."

Peridot's smile widened. "If she did, then she's probably expecting us to thank her for it."

"You know what? I think I will. It was really nice spending time with you, even if we don't end up dating or anything. Maybe we should keep in touch."

"That's... probably a good idea," agreed Peridot. Lapis pulled out a pen and scribbled something down on a napkin – her phone number – and gave the pen to Peridot to do the same. The blonde looked at the pen, then up at Lapis, amused. "You know you could just put it on your phone, right?"

"Oh... oh yeah," Lapis grinned. "I knew that!"

"Mmhm," Peridot hummed skeptically, pulling out her phone with its lime green case. Lapis's case was sky-blue. _Green and blue_ , Peridot thought to herself. _It's not a bad fit._

After paying – half half, for fairness sakes – the two of them left the restaurant. "Are you walking home?" Peridot asked hesitantly.

"Uh– that's the plan, yes," Lapis replied. "That way."

"Oh. Well, I'm going the other way. So um... I guess I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah," Lapis nodded. "Talk to you later. And maybe we can try going on another date someday soon."

"Yeah. Maybe." Peridot smiled, waving. This hadn't been even half as bad as she thought.

 _Later that night_

 **Lapis:** hey is this peridot **  
?:** Of course it is. Lapis, I _gave_ you my phone number. Do you think I would trick you?  
 **Lapis:** nah i guess not. you wanna meet me at the park tomorrow?  
 **Peri:** Okay, I'll meet you. When?  
 **Lapis:** like, 11 am? then we can go for lunch if you want to  
 **Peri:** Sure. I'll be there. Now, it's almost midnight, so... good night!  
 **Lapis:** night peri  
 **Peri:** I told you not to call me that!  
 **Lapis:** yeah yeah okay. night dot!  
 **Peri:** ...  
 **Peri:** Seriously?  
 **Lapis:** what you, dont like that either?  
 **Peri:** Isn't it, uh, a little early in our acquaintance to be thinking of nicknames?  
 **Lapis:** psh lookit you using fancy words like acquaintance  
 **Lapis:** and nah its not, but if you dont like it i can wait until we know each other better  
 **Lapis:** just you wait...


	3. Date (2)

**[A/N: This was requested. I can only say... I'm sorry. I seem to be incapable of writing a happy story.]**

 **Lapis:** peridot you at the park yet?

 **Peri:** Yeah, I got here five minutes ago. I'm by the playground. Where are you?

 **Lapis:** oh im feeding the ducks... i'll get to you soon, dont go anywhere!

 **Peri:** Alright.

Peridot pushed her phone into her pocket and glanced around the playground area, getting off the bench she had been sitting on and walking slowly towards the swingset. She figured it was safe to assume she had three minutes to compose herself; unfortunately, she was pretty sure that wasn't going to be enough. She pushed her glasses up her nose and took a deep breath. _It's not such a big deal,_ she told herself as convincingly as she could. _It's only our second meeting. Nothing's going to happen._ Biting her lip, she glanced down at herself quickly. Casual outfit. Good. In her haste, she had barely looked at what clothes she put on – she had gotten caught up in playing a video game and had almost forgotten to come to the park at all; thank goodness Jasper had called – and was thankful to see that she had no curse words on her t-shirt. _That_ would have made a bad impression.

She lifted her gaze and scanned the playground again. Still no sign of Lapis. That was good. _Stop getting so nervous,_ she scolded herself. _It's going to be fine._ She spun around and made her way towards the bench again, dodging a running toddler and two racing kids on scooters as she tried to keep the butterflies in her stomach from fluttering. She sat down again, distracted, and ran a hand through her hair. _Aw shoot, I'm so inexperienced and it's so pathetic. Why couldn't I have found someone to practice dating with when I was younger? I mean, I'm_ nineteen _for heavens' sake, and I haven't dated_ anyone _except… well, I don't know if my_ thing _with Jasper even counts because it only lasted a week; God, that was a disaster! Never again._

 _I wonder if Lapis'll try to pressure me into…_ that _too. I hope not. It was awful, trying to think of a way to refuse without offending Jasper…_

She jolted out of her thoughts when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun quickly, glaring backwards. "What the _hell–_ …oh. It's you."

"Yup, it's me," Lapis responded as she slid onto the bench next to Peridot. She was wearing a striped blue sweatshirt and slightly torn jeans, her bangs long and messy, blown around by the autumn wind. "Ooh, nice glasses! How come you weren't wearing those yesterday?"

Peridot glanced around. "Well, um," she replied, suddenly slightly embarrassed (so much for looking cool), "I was wearing contacts yesterday–"

"Wait, is that why your eyes were green?"

"Yes, they're actually blue-gray–"

"That's cool! Why are your glasses green?"

"Because when I was younger, I really liked green–"

"How blind are you without your glasses?"

"I can't see anything closer than you, probably–"

"Can I try your glasses on?"

Peridot took a deep breath, tired of being polite. "Can you _please_ stop interrupting me?"

"Right. Sorry. I know I ask a lot of questions..." Lapis smiled guiltily. "Those green glasses are cool, though."

"Thanks, I guess... but no you can't try them on."

"Okay. Uh, how are you today?"

"I'm all right," Peridot replied, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. "How are _you_?"

"Well enough," Lapis dismissed, one corner of her mouth quirking upwards. She looked up at the playground, becoming silent; Peridot refrained from speaking, since her companion appeared lost in thought. Suddenly Lapis' smile faded and she turned towards Peridot, her expression unreadable. "I've been thinking – do you know the Universe family?"

"Uh..." Peridot thought for a moment. She _had_ met a child, she recalled, who had introduced himself as 'Steven! Steven Universe!' – he had come to visit her school a few months before, with three girls who had toured her school but ended up going to Crystal High. She didn't _know_ him, though. And she knew nothing about his family. "Not really, no." Her gaze followed a little girl as the toddler ran across the sandbox and fell down.

"Hmm," Lapis paused for a moment, running a hand through her hair thoughtfully. "Steven Universe, the only child of that family... never mind. Anyway, he's a friend of mine, and uh... Well, there's something I need to tell you. I don't really attend Crystal High."

Peridot turned and stared at Lapis, forgetting about the crying toddler. Lapis had _lied_? Why? Had she lied about anything else, too? She couldn't trust herself to speak without saying something rash, so just tried to ask ' _what?!"_ wordlessly. Lapis was flushing slightly, obviously uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry I lied to you, but um, I _used_ to attend the school, I really did. I..." she took a deep breath. "I don't really want to tell you this, but I talked to Steven last night and he told me I should probably be honest with you – he's smart for a ten-year-old and knows lots more about good friendly relationships than I do, really. And a romantic relationship should be _built_ on a friendly one, in my opinion. So uh... the truth is I dropped out at the start of this year because of various reasons – like, bullying and–" she attempted a weak smile– "you know, stuff like that. I still have all my books and I teach myself using the internet, so uh, I'm learning, but I don't attend the school and... yeah..."

She stopped talking, her eyes drifting down to her lap, where her hands were twisted together in a way that looked painful. Peridot stayed silent for a bit, trying to puzzle through what Lapis had told her and figure out what it meant. _Secrets and lies,_ her thoughts whispered. _Secrets and lies._ Maybe it was a bad idea to even be _around_ someone like Lapis. Still – there was something about the secrecy around Lapis which somehow made her _more_ appealing. Peridot wouldn't call herself a risk-taker, but there was something about trying to connect with someone like Lapis, someone who society had apparently rejected that intrigued her. While she sorted through her thoughts, though, Lapis had apparently gathered her resolve to say more.

"Actually, I should probably tell you the rest, too," the bluenette blurted, her words tumbling over each other. "It wouldn't be fair to make you try... _this..._ without knowing everything that might affect you... so yeah, you need to know." She pulled her hands apart, clenching them into fists, her eyes fixed on the ground. "I was raised in a bad home. My parents were... uh, not nice people. When I was sixteen... _something_ happened, and now I have PTSD which– um– yeah. When I dropped out of school, I, I _had_ to get out of my house, so I moved in with the Universes for a while. They're a great family but they don't have much and I didn't want to weigh them down. It's been hard.

"I live on the beach now – there's a little house there – and I take odd jobs, but... my life sucks. I meet Jasper like I told you, but we don't really get along. It was Steven who set me up to come and meet you and I only agreed because he really wanted me to – apparently he met you once upon a time and he thought you looked nice, so he set it up with Jasper or something. And now that you know all this... I guess you won't want to date me anymore, and– and I accept that. But Steven told me I should tell the truth, and..." Lapis slowed, her voice shaky. "That's what I'm doing."

Peridot was paralyzed. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? This was practically the _opposite_ of the day before. The confident girl was gone, and all Peridot could see was a broken teenager who had gone through _so much_. She could see now, though, and she thought she could understand Lapis' behavior. The day before... well, Lapis must've been excited and had decided to try and fake it, maybe. Or something. She wasn't sure exactly. But then – Peridot tried to picture it. Lapis must've talked to this Steven. Who knew what had happened, exactly. And Lapis had decided what had to be done, and come to meet Peridot, and been nervous, so tried to put this off by asking a lot of questions... But she had revealed the truth, or at least part of it, now. And Peridot didn't know what she should do.

She would have to think this through before she could talk to Lapis again, but if she was silent for too long Lapis would probably decide that Peridot didn't want to be around her, even if it was the opposite (was it? –maybe). So Peridot took a moment. What were her options? What could she say? _Sorry, just give me a moment,_ was one option. Was that offensive, though? Or _it's all right, we can try this anyway_ , although she wasn't sure if she should. Perhaps _sorry, but I don't think I can do this_ would work. That would be harsh, though. The– all that... it wasn't Lapis' fault _,_ and the bluenette _did_ seem to be a charming person.

Peridot's thoughts were interrupted by quiet words from Lapis. "I... I guess I'll leave now," she said. "You can call me if, uh, you want to talk. Otherwise... it was nice getting to know you." The bench creaked as Lapis got up, and Peridot moved her gaze upwards but otherwise didn't manage to react. Lapis gave one last look backwards, then turned away, pushing her hands into her pockets. "Sorry to burden you," she added as she trudged off, head bowed. Peridot opened her mouth to speak, to call her back, but she closed it again without saying anything. Because what was she supposed to say, exactly? She could think of nothing.

So she stayed silent and watched as Lapis walked away, autumn-painted leaves blowing around her in a sudden gust of wind.


	4. Date (3)

****[A/N: Someone asked for this and I was already writing it so here we go. I'm sorry; I know this isn't a one-shot anymore. If you like I can transfer it to a separate story so it won't trick people? idk, tell me what you think)****

 **Peridot:** Lapis?

 **Lapis:** what

 **Peridot:** I... I need to talk to you.

 **Peridot:** I know it's been two days... You probably think I gave up on you. It's not like that though. I just needed time to think.

 **Peridot:** Can we please meet somewhere and talk?

 **Lapis:** i cant meet you today

 **Peridot:** Tomorrow, then?

 **Lapis:** look. I know what youre doing and you dont have to do it. Im fine on my own, i dont need you to pity me.

 **Peridot:** No, no, it's not that! I want to try– uh, there's a lot to it, which is why I want to talk face to face.

 **Lapis:** you only want to get to know me because you think itll make you look cool to be able to say you befriended the trouble kid. ive met people like that before and i dont like it

 **Peridot:** That's not true! Look, Lapis,  please can I just talk to you? I'm sorry I didn't say anything at the park, but I couldn't think of anything I could say without offending you and I didn't want to take that chance. Now I've done it anyway and I want to apologize.

 **Lapis:** well what if im not interested in accepting your apology, huh? what if i don't care if this doesnt work? i was only trying out this dating thing because steven told me to, and then i took his advice and told you everything and it failed

 **Lapis:** im not surprised and honestly i dont care, it doesnt matter and im fine living my life and you living yours just as it was before we met.

 **Peridot:** But it doesn't have to be this way, Lapis. Can't we try at least?

 **Lapis:**...

 **Lapis:** you really are stubborn

 **Lapis:** meet you at the west beach in ten minutes

Peridot stared at her screen for a while, trying to understand this abrupt end to the conversation. Her mind had been plagued with thoughts of Lapis for hours over the past days, even to the point when she couldn't concentrate on her schoolwork. When _that_ happened, she knew she was in trouble. Completing her education with the best grades possible was _crucial,_ and the classes she attended were so complex that missing a minute could mean missing a key concept – she _had_ to get Lapis out of her head.

So instead of working on a project for her computer science class, she had set aside an evening to puzzle through her opinion on Lapis Lazuli. To her regret, there was more emotion than logic involved – that made it a lot more difficult, as she wasn't very good with understanding feelings and the like. But she made a few key discoveries.

Firstly, she liked Lapis as a person. Personality, appearance – everything, really. There was a charm about the girl which couldn't be denied, and she was definitely aesthetically pleasing. Intelligent, too – although you wouldn't guess that if you only saw her texts, to be sure – and witty, with a sharp sarcastic side to her.

Also, she didn't begrudge the fact that Lapis had lied to her. Yes, it was a sort of warning that she had to be careful of what she believed; yes, it wasn't nice to be lied to – that was true. But on the other hand, hadn't Lapis had a reasonable – if not necessarily justifiable – reason to lie? She hadn't wanted to start off their acquaintance (relationship?) with a bad impression. Of course Peridot would have appreciated it if Lapis had been honest, but a lie she could forgive.

As for Lapis's history... frankly, Peridot was shocked. She had heard of kids with unsupportive families, and of children who left the house because of their parent's cruelty (which she assumed was why Lapis had left her childhood home), but to actually meet one of those people was quite surprising. Living on a small house alone on the beach... taking odd jobs... and this a young woman who could undoubtedly have gone so far in her life! It was sad. So she _did_ pity Lapis – it was true. But there was so much more besides!

Peridot shook herself out of her reverie and jumped to her feet. Ten minutes, Lapis had said, and four had already passed! She glanced down at herself and winced. Oh boy, she was _not_ dressed well. She estimated that it would probably take about four minutes to walk down to the west beach, since it wasn't far from her house (Beach City was a small town, not so much a _city_ ), so she had a minute or two to spare. First things first, though: she had to change out of this shirt.

"Dad? 'M going to the beach! I'll probably be back for dinner, but don't wait up."

She arrived at the boardwalk just on time. It was an alright beach, she supposed, although she personally liked neither sand nor sea (the sand just got into _everything,_ and the sea tasted so nasty and made people so sticky and gross-feeling... ugh, just thinking of the salty waves made her shiver). The town wasn't called Beach City for no reason, however: the city was on a peninsula and was surrounded by a rather impressive beach on all sides. _Why_ her dad had chosen to move to this town, she had no clue.

Squinting against the sun, she scanned the beach for a blue-haired person. There was Sapphire, who was in a few of her classes; that wasn't who she was looking for, though. She turned again, searching in the other direction. There was Lapis! The bright mid-blue color of her hair was quite unmistakable. Walking carefully so that sand wouldn't get into her shoes, she picked her way across the beach towards Lapis.

"Lapis!" She called as she approached. The bluenette was seated on the sand, staring into space. At the sound of Peridot's voice, she looked up. Her face was still and expressionless as she motioned for Peridot to sit down. Peridot obliged, even though she _really_ didn't want to get sand on herself any more than was necessary. She settled herself a bit away from Lapis, glanced around – there was nobody within twenty meters, although the beach was by no means empty – and turned her eyes towards her companion.

"So?" Lapis asked. Peridot winced at her tone, although it wasn't quite as cold as those sharp blue eyes. At least this time she had a plan.

"First of all," she began, startled by how quiet her voice was in contrast to the turmoil inside her, "I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't've let you leave and then afterwards I shouldn't've waited two days in order to talk to you again, but I did. And I'm sorry." She paused a moment to see if Lapis was going to respond, but she didn't, so Peridot went on. "Also I wanted to say that I don't think it's fair of you to accuse me of just wanting to be your– friend– just because of your situation in life. It's not true. Everyone has problems, although I admit yours are bigger than most people's. And I wanted to hear your thoughts on this in person because it's really easy to type stuff without worrying about the consequences." She stopped to take a breath, wondering why she was so nervous. Was Lapis going to stop staring at her like that any time soon? It was unnerving. "Are you willing to try a second time, or are we just going to leave it here? I don't have to be your girlfriend. I'd be fine with being a normal friend. I just... don't feel comfortable abandoning... you."

At last Lapis stirred. "I can appreciate that," she said stiffly, pulling her legs up to her chest. "There've just... been a lot of people who just pretended to be my friends, but weren't really. And that... hurts. I'm not ready for it to happen again. Do you have any idea _how_ many times I've been stabbed in the back by people I thought were my friends?" There was iron control in her voice, but her eyes were filling with tears. She swiped them away with a rapid, jerky motion.

"No, but I... that's awful," Peridot sympathised.

"Don't _pity_ me," Lapis growled. A bunch of clouds drifted over the sun, and, slightly relieved, Peridot opened her eyes from their squint.

"Okay, sorry, sorry. Forget I said anything." Peridot took a deep breath for the umpteenth time, trying to calm down – this was going to be harder than she thought. Hopefully it would be worth it; after all, Lapis was just having a hard time – she was probably not often like this. "You find it hard to trust people because of it, I guess? I can understand that. But if you think logically – I mean, you won't _get_ anywhere by closing yourself off."

"My life is fine the way it is," retorted Lapis in the tone of one who was trying to start an argument. "I don't need to _get_ anywhere."

"Well–"

"Oh, shut up." Lapis glared daggers and jumped to her feet. "You know what? Come with me." She pulled Peridot roughly to her feet (the blonde winced as a gust of wind blew sand into her face and clothes) and jerked her head forward in a "come on!" motion. Peridot almost had to run to keep up with Lapis but didn't dare ask her to slow down.

The two of them walked along the beach, which was slowly emptying as people headed home for the evening. After about three minutes, Peridot saw a smallish wooden shack in the distance. Was that Lapis's home? As they approached, she saw that it was even smaller than she had thought from a distance. It was about the same size as her own bedroom, which was the smallest one in her house – about four by six meters, something like that. And that was Lapis's whole _house?_ It sure seemed like it, because now Lapis was leading her up to the door and opening it.

The moment she stepped in, she had to do a double take. She was expecting a small cot, and a kitchen, or something – nothing fancy. Sure, perhaps that was playing to stereotypes, but so what? What she _wasn't_ expecting was what she saw, though. Three of the walls of the little shack were painted in incredible detail, and the roof was like a night sky (Peridot spotted a few constellations; presumably the sky was accurate, too). On one wall was a beach scene, on another the ocean with an island, and on another wall was an underwater scene. The last wall was only half-painted and had a more abstract design of blues and purples. Once Peridot managed to tear her eyes away from the walls, she could see that Lapis actually had a decent, comfortable-looking bed. One corner of the house contained a small kitchen, another area had a nice armchair, and all along the far side of the room were paints and paintbrushes and sketchbooks and other art materials. Then there was a small door, presumably leading to the bathroom.

"Well," Lapis said, turning towards Peridot, "do I really need to say anything? I'm sure you see my point."

Peridot had to admit: she felt like a fool. After all, it was true that she really didn't know anything about Lapis's lifestyle. Who was she to tell her what to do? In hindsight, that had been incredibly stupid. But... what _was_ this house? It was so strange! "Did you paint the walls?" Peridot found herself asking as if in a daze.

"Yeah, I did," Lapis responded with a faint proud smile, then stopped, narrowing her eyes. "Wait. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh– nothing– I just–" Peridot shook her head, trying to clear it. "Never mind. I do see your point and uh, I shouldn't have pretended I know more than you do, but I don't get exactly why all this make us unable to be gir- uh, friends."

"You don't, do you?" Lapis asked, slightly less angrily. "Huh." She sat down in the armchair that was right by the door, resting her head on her hand, and sighed. "Okay, look. I'm not trying to say that your friendship, or love, or whatever, is cheap just because I'm one of those "trouble kids" and it would make you look "cooler" to be my friend or girlfriend or– yeah." She puffed up her cheeks, then blew out slowly. "But..."

"But that's exactly what you're saying," Peridot remarked flatly, wondering if she could sit down somewhere too. It was really awkward just standing in the doorway.

"I... yeah, I guess." Lapis stopped, looking over Peridot's shoulder to the outside. "Hold on. Come all the way inside and close the door, it's going to rain. You can sit on the bed."

"It's going to rain? How do you know?" Peridot asked, doing as Lapis had told her. "And shouldn't I go home then, before it starts?"

Lapis ignored the second question. "I know it's going to rain because I have magical weather-reading powers... and I saw the weather forecast this morning. Plus it's all dark and cloudy outside and the ocean is choppy and wild. So yeah, it's gonna rain."

"Oh." Peridot nodded in understanding, feeling rather dumb. She should have known that. Changing the subject so the feeling would go away, she asked, "How can I prove that I'm not like that?"

"See there's the problem," Lapis responded. "I don't know if I can trust anyone anymore."

"Do you trust your friend... _what's his name_... Steven?"

"Yes." Lapis said right away, then stopped, looking startled, and smiled slightly. "Okay, you're right. I guess I can."

"So maybe we can try this after all? Just for a while, and then you can see how you feel about continuing." Peridot crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping Lapis would say yes.

"I..." Lapis looked down at her hands, tapping her feet to a unknown rhythm. "I'm warning you in advance, Peridot. I'm not an easy person to get along with. I don't know if you should do this. I don't want to hurt you."

"We can always break apart," insisted Peridot. She wasn't even sure what was driving her on. Curiosity? Attraction? Stubbornness? Well. Whatever it was, it was powerful. All she knew was that she wanted to try this.

Lapis smiled ruefully. "Don't say I didn't warn you... but, okay. We can try it."

Peridot nodded. "Thank you."

 **A rumble of thunder shook the house. Lapis peered out the single window and turned around to Peridot, shrugging. "I guess you're staying here until the storm's over, then..."**


	5. Diary

" _Soooo_ boooored," Lapis Lazuli moaned as she sank lower into the poufy old armchair in the farthest back corner of her neighborhood library. It was the middle of summer vacation and she had finally decided that reading wasn't going to distract her from anything right now. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get lost in any book. It was awful. Despite the looming despair she felt, her eyes kept scanning the nearby shelves, trying to find something that at least looked interesting.

Aha! There was something. Leaning forward, Lapis pulled a slightly worn neon green-covered book off the shelf. There was no title visible, but it was worth a try at least, Lapis figured. Sitting back in the chair, Lapis placed the open book in her lap and turned to the first page. It was written in handwriting, to her surprise, and was written as a diary. _Cool,_ Lapis smiled. She always liked it when authors experimented with style. The handwriting was slightly messy, but that didn't bother her.

 ** _Tuesday Oct. 14th_** _ **, 2015 A.D,**_ the first entry was dated.  
 _Mother once told me that keeping a journal of my younger years is important, since when I'm older and perhaps famous, it'll be useful if I can remember what happened to me back then. Jaz laughed at me when I bought this journal – diary, she called it – but what does my big sister even know about it? Nothing, that's what. I just hope nobody reads this. I'll have to find a good hiding spot. Anyway I'll start out my journal by listing a few facts about myself, because my opinion of myself might change and it's important to track progress in my thinking process. At least that's what Mother says.  
First of all, my appearance. I have weird green eyes and really puffy blonde hair that never really can be controlled. I usually keep my bangs tied up with a green hair tie because my favorite color is green. My skin is really light colored with a lot of freckles even though I don't go in the sun much. I wear glasses because I'm farsighted and I can't see very well without them, up close anyway. I'm kinda chubby, which I don't like, but I'd DIE before I went to the gym or something so... yeah. I'm also short, like, 5'1'' or something. It sucks, and I mean like, I'm 17 so I'm not gonna grow any taller.  
As for my personality, I've had lots of people call me a nerd or a geek because I'm good with robots and math and I read a lot, and some call me a jerk or a robot because I don't show emotions much. I don't care what they call me even if it is insulting. I've kinda fallen into a mindset of not caring what people say. I just have to make sure they don't find out anything more, like something pretty big: I'm gay. I mean, homosexual, if I wanna use the correct term, or lesbian. If the kids at school found out thought, it would be awful, so I keep quiet about it.  
This is of course meant to be a journal or a diary. I'll probably update it every day._

Lapis grinned, pushing a lock of her blue-dyed hair out of her eyes. Whoever wrote this story was pretty talented, to be sure. The character felt totally real.

 _ **Wednesday Oct. 15th  
**_ _Yesterday I started this journal by describing myself. Today I'll finish the introduction and tell about my day. It'll have to be quick because Jaz is calling me. Jasper. She's my half-sister; we have different dads. We're really different but we both always help each other out. Mother's not really close to either of us because she's busy all the time. I don't actually know why I'm explaining things but like I said, maybe it will be interesting to read this someday when I'm older and see how I thought of my life back when I was 17.  
Today was a totally normal day and I might as well tell about it. I wake up at six and get to the bathroom before Jaz does. Breakfast is usually cornflakes. I take the bus. Jaz always sits with her friends and I sit in the back and watch everyone. At school I go through my classes normally (always get straight A's. Or well almost always) and during English I always spend like half the time watching that girl who sits in the front of the room – she's really pretty. I don't even know her name or anything and she's probably not into girls but I can dream.  
Lunch I sit alone, or sometimes with a few other of the "nerds". Once I get home (I never stay after school unless I have robotics club) I play Minecraft or read and do my homework or something. Usually Jaz and I have pizza for supper because Mother is rarely home to make food. Honestly my life is boring. _

Lapis tapped her chin thoughtfully as she read on, smiling once or twice at a particularly amusing sentence. About halfway into the journal, she read a paragraph that almost made her drop the book.

 _...that girl in my English class actually talked to me today. I haven't talked much about her in my journal because watching her is basically just a part of my routine, but today, as I was leaving class, she smiled said hi. So I said hello back. I never did describe her, did I? She has blue eyes and tan skin with these really faint freckles, and her hair is short and it's dyed a nice shade of blue. She's short, only a bit taller than me, but a lot thinner and more graceful. Anyway she just said hi, I don't know why, and that was it, but it was still pretty cool._

That could practically be a description of Lapis herself! Suddenly suspicious, Lapis closed the book, although she kept her thumb in it to mark her spot. Carefully she inspected the binding, looking for a publisher's mark or something. There was nothing. _Could this be a real person's diary?_ Lapis wondered. _Did I just read a real person's diary?_ She was still doubtful. What were the odds of her finding this diary that apparently belonged to a girl in her English class? On second thought, it was actually not _that_ unlikely. Lapis thought about it, running her finger over the cover of the book. Was there a Peridot at her school? There might be. She couldn't remember. If there was – and this was real – and that girl really had a crush on her – well, that would certainly be... interesting. But wait, if this was someone's actual journal, would it be too rude to read on?

Despite her doubts, Lapis couldn't resist re-opening the diary and reading more. There was nothing more about the girl Peridot had a crush on, to her disappointment, not until the second-last page with writing on it (about a quarter of the book was still blank).

 _...oh, and today the Blue Girl (which is what I call the girl in my English class) presented to the class. Everyone did, actually, except me since I recorded my presentation and gave it to the teacher – but the thing is, I SWEAR the Blue Girl was staring RIGHT at me the whole time. I can't even remember what she spoke about, because her eyes were like, boring into me... it was distracting. I wish I had the courage to talk to her but I doubt she remembers I exist, most of the time. Plus our English teacher never has us work in teams or groups or ANYTHING, which means I never talk to her._

Lapis closed the book and carefully placed it back on the shelf, trying to process what this meant. She was pretty convinced by now that this was real, and somehow that scared her. She'd have to find out on Monday if there really _was_ a girl in her English class named Peridot. If there was, well... she'd do _something._ Without revealing that she'd read this diary, of course. Otherwise, she'd just dismiss this book as an uncanny coincidence. That would be a _truly_ strange coincidence, but it was technically possible. Right?

"Hey... Steven! Do you know if there's a girl named Peridot in our class?"

"Oh! Yeah she sits in the back of the room. Haven't you ever seen her before?"

"Not really, no." _Although I have the feeling that might change._


End file.
